The Mall
by Anibelli
Summary: Percy gets chased into a mall and meets the last person he expects. What is she doing in a dress shop? Set in the winter between the Battle of the Labyrinth and The Last Olympian. Disclamer- Dont even think about it. It's not gonna happen.


Monsters can ruin your perfectly good day. I would know from experience. They can bite, scratch, burn, freeze, or spray poison in your face. But that double-ended snake really tops the chart.

I had just finished school, on a nice (horrible) winter day. Goode High School had just gotten out, and I was skipping home. I had passed my Mid-Term exams. All of them. I really needed to thank Paul. The air was frosty, but that didn't ruin my mood. The giant monster did.

I first spotted it at the mini-mart. My eyes almost popped out of my head. It looked like a giant snake, 30 feet long, with little feet. The only difference was at the other end of the snake. Where the tail should have been, another giant head protruded from the scaly rope. The monster breathed out of his nostrils, and smoke extruded. I almost cried.

"Why now?" I muttered. The monster (I decided to call it Oliver) sniffed the air, and then looked directly at me. I froze. It stared at me with glowing red eyes.

"Crap." Oliver hissed, and scrambled across the street, causing several cars to run into each other.

"Crap, crap, crap." I said, as I ran for my life. Oliver barreled after me. I was chased down several blocks, before I realized that I needed to get riptide out, or hide. I glanced back at Oliver. He was destroying everything in sight. I glanced ahead of me, and saw a mall.

Hide it was.

I burst through the giant doors, and ran straight into someone.

"Sorry!" I said, continuing my dash for freedom. The customer muttered a word I can repeat, and was almost trampled by Oliver.

"What the Hades!" I yelled as I scrambled back on my feet. I ran. I ran as fast as I could, trying to find a safe place to hide as I dodged customers. I saw an exit to the main part of the mall, and made a mad dash for it. I left Oliver rampaging the store, and ran down the huge hallway. Many people yelled at me as I bashed into them.

"What the heck!"  
"Watch it, blackie!"

"Are those working?" one person asked, pointing to my eyes.

I kept on going.

I entered some stupid dress store, one that an Aphrodite girl would die to go to. Oliver would never expect this. It smelled to strongly of perfume. I tried to look like I belonged, but it was pretty hard. An employee looked at me strangely. I tried for an innocent smile, but it came out more like a grimace. Considering that I wasn't looking where I was going, it's expected that I was going to bump into someone else. Just not the first person I expected.

"Watch it." Said a grumpy voice.

"Sorry."  
"Percy?" the voice gasped. I looked up.

"Annabeth? What the heck are you doing here?" I asked, now about as confused at I was going to get.

"Take a guess, Seaweed brain."

"Hiding from Oliver too?" I asked sympathetically.

"No. I'm dress shopping, stupid. My dad has a masquerade party tonight, and I need a stupid dress. Who's Oliver?" She asked curiously.

"Um…" I itched the back of my neck, looking behind me. "No one."

"Okay… I can't believe this. " She said looking at her phone. I looked at what she was wearing, and my mouth dropped open. She was wearing a dress. A DRESS!

"Um." I think I was drooling. The dress was simple enough, black with tank top straps. It went to lower thigh. Her hair was down, and she was wearing her owl earrings. She also had a silver bracelet on. I really, really wanted to kiss her. Whoa, where did that come from?

"My dad got me a date for the event."  
"What?" I asked, astonished.

"Yeah, some jock from my school. He's such a weirdo. He's always flirting with me, and I really hate it." I saw red. If he did one thing to Annabeth, he would never see living daylight again.

"Why?"  
"Apparently I would look improper without a date.

"I could be your date." I blurted out randomly.

"You would?" She looked at me, more astonished than I was.  
"Annabeth, how about this one?" said a voice that I slightly recognized.

"Mrs. Chase?"  
"Percy? What are you doing here?"

"Well… I sorta got chased into here by a giant two headed snake…?" I said cautiously. Mrs. Chases eyes widened.

"Annabeth! What did you do, brining this monster here?"  
"I didn't do anything!" She snapped. "You can't always blame me!" She looked really hot when she was angry… OMH Percy, keep control of your stupid thoughts!

"Mrs. Chase, with all due respect, my scent is stronger than hers and I lured the monster here."

"Don't stick up for her Percy! She is always summoning these monsters to kill us!"  
Annabeth screamed with angry laughter. "Kill you? My entire life has been a survival game. Do you think that I want to die?"  
"Annabeth, we have to go! The monster is coming!" I urged her. She glared at her step-mom, and stormed into the changing room. I glanced at Mrs. Chase, and shrugged helplessly.

"Here!" said the real Annabeth. The tossed the dress to Mrs. Chase, who caught it angrily.

"Buy the dress, I'll see you at home." She stormed out of the room, me chasing after her.

"We need to leave. Oliver is huge!" I told her. Her eyes widened. She looked at something behind me.

"Ya, he is."  
"I didn't even turn around.  
"Run."  
"Yep."

We raced off into the hall of never ended ness.

Oliver saw us and roared in triumph. He bounded after us, and Annabeth pulled out her knife. I pulled out riptide. We reached the middle of the mall. Humph, I guess the hall ended after all.

The middle of the mall had a huge celling, 50 feet to say the least. The center had a big fountain. It was currently out of order. Unless…  
"Annabeth! Distract him! I'm gonna see if I can get the fountain to work!"  
"On it!"

I raced to the fountain, hearing Annabeth yelling behind me, "OVER HERE YOU OVERGROWN WORM!"

He roared with anger, his million teeth gleaming. I reached the fountain. I jumped into the empty basin. I put my hand on the body of the fountain. I felt… no water. I growled almost as loud as Oliver. Annabeth screamed. I turned furiously. Annabeth lay on the ground, burnt as hades. She was trembling. I yelled in fury and stabbed riptide into the body. It started to rumble, and water sprayed out like a geyser. The fire-breathing monster screamed, cowering from the water. I directed it toward Oliver, who ran; slowly melting until it he was gone. I stopped the water. I raced toward Annabeth, sliding on my knees. The mall was empty. The people must have either died, or vacated. Not that it mattered. Annabeth was hurt.

"Annabeth… Oh Hades." I poured nectar on her burns, and force-fed her ambrosia. Her color returned, and she snuggled up next to me.

"Percy?" she mumbled, her eyes still closed.

"Yeah?" I almost cried with relief.

"Let's not do that again." I smiled.

"Definitely."

I arrived home; only to see my mom all dressed up.

"Hey mom, what's up?" I asked curiously.

"Percy? Where have you been?" She asked, running over to me.

"Um, monster attack. I'm good though." She hugged me.

"Oh, my baby boy is grown up." She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Why are you all dressed up?" I asked again.

"We have a masquerade party. You are going too. Get ready, we leave in 30 minutes." She kissed my forehead. I smiled and went to change. My mom had laid my outfit out for me. A blue dress shirt, and slacks, with a tie. I smiled again. Perfect.

We left, Mom and Paul hand in hand. Mom's mask was blue, matching her eyes at that moment. Paul's was a regular green, matching his tie. Mine was a blue, like my mother's.

The party was held at a really nice casino. We walked into the room, and I was immediately hit by the massive amounts of people. I scanned the room for anyone that I knew. Only one person was familiar. A blonde girl with a black dress, silver bracelet, earrings, and flats. Her mask was a beautiful silver, matching her eyes. I walked over to her, about to introduce myself, when this big kid, blonde hair and blue eyes, typical jock, walked over to her. Her eyes flared with anger. I smirked and walked over. He was flirting with her (no surprise), trying to get close enough to touch her. She kept batting his hand away. I reached them, and looked the kid in the eyes. He faltered for a second, but regained his posture. I looked at the girl.

"Hello, Ms. Chase."  
"Perce? I couldn't recognize you all dressed up!" She smirked.

"Perce? Who are you, kid?" the boy asked.

"Percy Jackson. You?" I asked, holding my hand out. Annabeth leant on the table, satisfied.

"Jake Johnson. How do you know my girl?" he asked. My eyes flared as much as Oliver's did.

"She's my best friend."

"And I'm not yours." Annabeth said.

"Not yet." He whispered, getting close to her. She squirmed away. I got in between them.

"Touch her, and you will die. I will make sure of that." I growled. He snorted.

"You can't stop me, punk."

"Don't test me."  
"She's my date, Jackson. Back off."  
"She's my friend, Johnson. You back off."  
"I will have her. And she won't be sorry when she's a mom." I growled. Annabeth stepped in front of me. She smiled at Jake.

"C'mon, Jake. Let's leave this loser." She turned her head, and winked at me. I tried to look hurt, for the act. He smirked, and pulled her into him. She wasn't expecting that. She looked really uncomfortable, but retaliated with a knee to the balls.

"Don't call me later, Jake. I'm going with Seaweed brain." She dragged me to the dance floor, leaving Jake doubled over in pain.

"Thanks for that, Percy." She said, as we arrived to the other side of the room.

"Can you specify exactly what you mean by 'that', Ms. Chase?" I asked, feeling brave.

"Percy-" I cut her off.

"Speak a little louder, Ms. Chase, I don't speak stalling."

"I swear to Hades-"  
"I can't hear you." I sang.

"Thank you for sticking up for me, Percy." She kissed my check.

"Thank you for always sticking up for me, Mr. Jackson."  
"You're welcome, Ms. Chase. Thank you for the lovely kiss." She blushed.

"Don't ask for another one."  
"Not gonna press my luck."  
"C'mon." she dragged me to the dance floor, where we danced the night away.


End file.
